Duma deputies propose military service for women

Russia's Armed Forces counted almost 50,000 women in their ranks and approximately the same number in civilian positions in 2012. Source: RIA Novosti / Oleg Zoloto

To solve the problem of Russia's understaffed army, the State Duma is drafting a bill on the voluntary recruitment of 18-year-old Russian women for one year.

Tatiana Moskalkova, Duma deputy for A Just Russia and major
general under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, told Izvestia that a group of deputies are preparing a bill under
which women are to be drafted into the army. The cue was taken from the Israel
Defense Forces (IDF), in which a third of military personnel are female.

Moskalkova's idea is that women will be invited to the
military registration and enlistment office when they turn 18, just as male
conscripts are. "On receiving an army summons, she will be able to decide
for herself whether or not to serve," said Moskalkova. "Female
recruits would help set up medical or psychological services, which would make
military service more humane."

Women already have the right to serve in the armed forces,
either as civilians or as contracted officers, sergeants, or soldiers. As of
2012, the Russian Armed Forces counted almost 50,000 women in their ranks
(including 11,000 warrant officers) and approximately the same number in
civilian positions.

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United Russia, which controls 53 percent of the lower house
of parliament, reacted with skepticism to the initiative. "We already have
departments where women can receive military training to serve as doctors, translators,
and in other specialist areas," said Deputy Speaker Sergei Zheleznyak.

The second largest faction in the Duma, the Communist
Party, did not support Moskalkova's proposal. "In peacetime, we oppose
drafting the fairer sex, because it is a step toward mandatory conscription, as
is the case in Israel and Cuba (both of which, in contrast to Russia, face
extreme situations)," said the head of the legal service of the Communist
Party, Vadim Soloviev.

Viktor Averkov, an expert at the Problem Analysis Center,
believes that Russia has no need to call up women. "We do not face an
immediate external threat of war requiring total mobilization," Soloviev
said.

Editor-in-chief of the newspaper National Defense, Igor Korotchenko, believes that Israel's
experience is not indicative of Russia's situation. "Israel is encircled
by enemies, and maintaining a combat-ready force is for them a matter of
national survival. Russia's armed forces can manage with just male
recruits," said Korotchenko.

Valentina Melnikova, chairman of the Committee of Soldiers'
Mothers, described the idea of calling up women as crazy. "We don't have
the facilities to call up women. Under contract, yes, it's possible, because
they are accommodated in barracks and hostels with separate sections for
women," she told the radio station Russian News Service.

Melnikova added that Russian officers are not at all ready
to be subordinate to women. “Army talk is based on Russian ‘mat’ — it's not just swearing, it's
an entire language," she said.

Tatiana Moskalkova proposes that, as in Israel, female
soldiers in Russia should enjoy preferential treatment. "In Israel, girls
are allowed to sleep at home; but, in the morning, they go and serve, for which
they receive good money. In addition, they are given preference in college
enrollment, and they also receive professional training during their time in
uniform," she said.

Anna Ukolova, a spokesperson for the IDF, claims that
female recruitment produces good results. "The effect is only positive
(especially when women are engaged as instructors), regardless of the troop
specialization. Women here can be tank instructors or fighter pilots,"
Ukolova said of the experience in Israel.

However, she is not sure that the positive experience would
be repeated in Russia. "Because Israel is a small country, women are free
to tend to family matters while serving in the army. In Russia, as far as I
know, military service often takes people far from home," said Ukolova.

According to state secretary of the Russian
Ministry of Defense, Nikolai Pankov, the Russian Armed Forces contained 667,000
personnel as of April 2012. Including physicians, reserve officers, and
students and teachers at military schools, the number was just shy of 800,000.
At the end of 2011, Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the general staff of the
Armed Forces of Russia, stated that the number of service personnel had been
reduced to one million.